


Stars above us chasing the day away

by Utuinen



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Astrologian Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), F/M, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Post-Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers, Romantic if you squint, Stargazing, Unnamed Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24026755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Utuinen/pseuds/Utuinen
Summary: There, leaning against the balustrade and facing away, stood G’raha Tia, his hood down and face turned up towards the sky.The Warrior of Light has decided to take some well-deserved time off and ends up spending her night talking with G'raha Tia and teaching some Crystarium children a thing or two about stars.
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light
Kudos: 25





	Stars above us chasing the day away

**Author's Note:**

> This was quick but I had fun writing it, if anything it ended up less romantic than I originally meant. Oh well. 
> 
> Still, I think it's there. At least the intent is.

It had been a long day, but finally it was turning into a warm evening. It had been a while now after the night’s return, yet the people of Crystarium— no, the people of First seemed just as relieved each evening when the dark started its descent over the skies of Norvrandt. As if they were all still worried it had been a dream, that it would be taken away from them any one of the days. Well, it almost had been, so you probably couldn’t blame them.

As the skies darkened, the Warrior of Light finally had a chance to take a breath and slow down a little, having been all around the place running errands for most of the day. She handed the crate of wine over to Glynard, resolved it was the last favour she did today unless the rejoining decided to happen unprompted right now. With the luck they had been having it wasn’t as out of the question as she would have liked, but she had a good feeling about this night. Giott called out to her from the dwarf’s favourite spot in the bar and asked her if there was any good stuff in the crate and if so, if she would like to join her for a couple of pints. Probably a couple more in Giott’s case.

She shook her head with a slightly amused smile. She didn’t really feel like drinking, at least not when the night was still young and she, for once, had ample time for one of her favourite activities in the First after the night sky had returned. ”Another time.”

Giott shrugged, clearly not deterred at all.

The Warrior of Light walked through the city, smiling at the people greeting her and silently watching as they continued finishing their daily tasks, ready to give them over to those who worked the nights. One of the most notable impacts of the Flood was that with the visible differences of night and day gone, people had started working in shifts all around the clock in almost all the fields of society, so that the Crystarium never truly fell silent. Now, many even preferred the night shift, as they felt it a waste to sleep away the dark hours.

She started ascending the stairs of Rotunda but had to take a step aside so as not to collide with a few excited hume children running down them and giggling. They momentarily stopped, and she had a feeling they were about to apologize before they realized who it was they had almost ran over and they quickly continued down the stairs, giggling even more fervently as they went. She didn’t really mind. She liked seeing the children so full of energy and life, she just hoped they wouldn’t trip and fall in their excitement. When she reached the second story of Rotunda, she suddenly had a good idea of what it had been that had gotten them so thrilled. There, leaning against the balustrade and facing away, stood G’raha Tia, his hood down and face turned up towards the sky.

”This is unusual. Are you actually taking a voluntary break?” she asked him as she settled next to him, possibly a little closer than she would have needed to be. She wasn’t really one to talk, though. She was much the same as G’raha in that it was usually others who reminded her she should rest once in a while, even if lately she had been better about it.

G’raha’s ears twitched with hearing her voice, but otherwise he didn’t really show any surprise in her appearance. He had better control over his face now, but still she could see his mouth turn into a small, hesitant pout as he answered. He looked so shockingly similar to how he used to when he was younger that it made her smile. Years for her, a full century for him, and yet he was still the same brat she had cared for back then, even under all the newfound responsibilities both of them had gained. ”Lyna ordered me out of the Tower.”

”And you, my friend? Do you often come here to watch the sunset?” he asked her in turn.

”When I have the time,” she said. ”Did Lyna tell you that?”

G’raha might have blushed, but he had the crystal cheek towards her, so she wasn’t entirely sure. ”She, ah, might have mentioned there was a chance I’d run into you if I came here. Is there a reason?”

There was. It calmed her, to see the sky darkening and the stars appearing. It meant that things were fine. Her soul was fine. The world, for now, was fine. But she had wanted to rest and didn’t feel like talking about those things right now, so she just looked out at the horizon where the sun had mostly disappeared already, though the sky wasn’t quite dark yet. The last rays of light were beautiful shades of pink and violet which reminded her of the aetheric gloom in Mor Dhona.

”The sky really is the same here,” she said instead of a straightforward answer. ”The stars, too. That surprised me when I first arrived.”

”The stars?” G’raha seemed interested.

”Yes. I mean, I couldn’t see them because of the primordial Light, but I could feel them. It’s a good thing, too, so I could use my magic like normal. I’m not sure what would have happened if the stars had been really _gone_.”

G’raha hummed. ”I wish I could sense them. Logically I knew they were still there, but living with generations of people who’ve never seen them... It would have been a little too easy to start believing they _were_ gone.” He smiled at her, the expression on his face gentle. ”But, I’ve never been an expert on stars. I know you studied astromancy in Ishgard, but would you like to tell me about it yourself?”

A loud gasp interrupted them.

”The Warrior of Darkness is an expert on stars?” a little hume boy standing behind them with his friends asked, the ”is there nothing she _can’t_ do?” clear in his voice going unsaid.

The Warrior of Light turned to look and saw that he was one of the two earlier, the girl right next to him. There was also a third now with them, a young viis girl, already a head taller than either of them. All of them had the same starry-eyed look on their faces and it seemed they had a hard time deciding whether they should focus on the Exarch or her.

”In a way, yes,” she said, smiling at the children. ”I’m an astrologian. It means I can tell the future by reading the stars, but the constellations also allow me to use different magicks.”

”What are constellations?” the viis asked.

”Hmm, basically they’re a group of stars we have decided to call by a specific name,” the Warrior of Light explained, turning her face towards the heavens again. The first few stars glimmered softly against the now almost completely purple sky. ”It’s still a little too bright... We’ll have to wait until more stars are visible. Then I can show you.”

In the meantime, she decided to pull out her star globe, lowering it so that the children could better see the cards rotating around the sphere. ”Each of these cards represents one of the six major constellations on our sky. They are used in astromancy, the type of magic I use.”

”What are their names?” the hume girl asked.

The Warrior of Light drew one card at a time and named it for her audience, quickly glancing from the children to G’raha, who had bent down to watch just as keenly as the children did. She chuckled lightly behind her hand. While she did, she tried to figure out how much she could say about each of them without talking about the Twelve. She didn’t think it necessary to confuse the children even more than they already were by talking about foreign deities.

By the time she was done with her explanations, the sky had darkened enough and she straightened her back to look at the stars properly again. G’raha adjusted next to her as well, and she could hear a faint crack from his back. She looked at him worried, but his face revealed nothing. He simply encouraged her to continue.

”Now, let’s see... Which ones can we see from here?” she asked the children, who stared at the night sky with all their might.

They were quiet for a spell, all of them, until the hume boy talked. ”None. None of the stars form groups, they just... are.” The others nodded.

She understood why they would say that, but she pointed at the six stars glowing red in almost a line across the sky. ”That there is the Balance. Do you see it? It’s a woman, holding up a fan.”

The children looked again, but it took them several times to see where she pointed, and after that, a bit longer before they were ready to agree that the stars actually did resemble a woman. Like that, they went through all the constellations currently visible. The longer they continued, the more open the children got about seeing pictures in the sky. They were excited to learn and good listeners.

”How about you, Exarch? There’s at least one more, can you find it?” She suddenly felt like a teacher of a young class in the Studium—despite having been there only through other people’s stories—and true to that, G’raha looked caught off-guard when the attention turned to him. He had been perfectly content, just watching the children gush over his dearest friend and listening in.

”Ah, hm, there, isn’t it? Those eight stars?” He pointed towards a cluster of stars above them.

She smiled and nodded. ”Can you name it?”

”The Ewer, I believe?” he said, sounding a tad more confident than his expression led to believe.

”Exactly,” she said and smiled. The children watched him completely awed, as if he hadn’t been just as new to the subject as they were.

They went on like that. When they were nearly done, they were noticed by an adult man passing by. ”Kids, haven’t I told you not to bother— the Exarch and the Warrior of Darkness, of all people!”

”Papa!” the hume boy exclaimed and ran up to him, followed by the girl, his sister apparently. ”The Warrior of Darkness is an astrol—!” A line appeared between his brows. ”Her magic is called astrom—!” Another, quickly shook off. ”She’s a star expert! She was just teaching us!”

”Now, that sounds exciting”, the man said, and for a moment it really seemed like he would have wanted to ask for an explanation as well. However, he kept talking. ”But still, it’s getting late. You should thank them and we’ll go home.” The man smiled at the children but seemed apologetic when he looked over. ”You come too, we’ll walk you home.”

The viis girl nodded and all three of them bowed at the Warrior of Light and G’raha Tia, still waving at them when they walked further and further away.

”Energetic,” the Warrior of Light said when they were finally far enough to stop waving and started walking normally, and she could once again turn to talk with G’raha alone.

”Very,” G’raha agreed.

”Well. Did you learn anything you wanted to?” she asked him. It was her turn to look a bit apologetic. That really wasn’t how she had meant to explain the stars to him.

”Yes, it was most enlightening,” he smiled at her. ”Though I have to agree with the children, sometimes seeing the shapes in the stars can be... tricky.”

”It takes a bit of imagination,” she said. ”But, this actually gave me an idea. Do you think there would be more interested in learning? Should I speak with Moren about spreading the word? Maybe we could have... a symposium or something.” Oh gods, now she sounded like Jannequinard.

G’raha considered this. ”I believe that might be a great idea. Plenty of people are quite interested, understandably, and they would certainly love to hear your knowledge. If we were to ask Urianger, maybe... Do you think you two could possibly teach your art to a select few?”

”Yes, that’s what I was thinking as well. I know your craftsmen are plenty capable of making star globes, if given proper instructions, so that wouldn’t be a problem, either.” She nodded, getting increasingly more excited about the possibility. She wasn’t entirely sure she should have been teaching anyone, given that she had been an astrologian for only a handful of years herself, but she dared to think she knew enough.

”Then, we should probably start planning for the symposium,” G’raha said.

Both of them were getting lost deeper into their thoughts, when the Warrior of Light felt a sudden urge to look up again, just in time to see a bright flash. Then another. Not fiery meteors crashing to the ground, just normal shooting stars, beautiful in their fleetingness.

”Look!” she said and quickly took G’raha’s hand to get his attention. He looked up, a little startled, but his face broke into a smile as he realized what it was she had wanted him to see. Neither let go of the other’s hand, fully aware of its warmth against their own skin. They stood side by side and watched as the stars chased each other across the sky.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! ♥
> 
> I would love any thoughts or comments!


End file.
